International Business Machines Corporation

Mark W Gould

Timothy J McNamara

Timothy G Evans

An apparatus automatically generates test programs to test a service processor associated with a computer. The apparatus comprises a knowledge base for mapping screens generated by the service processor, which screens are arranged in a hierarchical manner and comprise menu screens which access other screens lower in the hierarchy and end point screens which represent memory of the computer serviced by the service processor. The apparatus also includes a user interface for selecting at least one screen generated by the service processor, which screen identifies a branch of screens lower in the hierarchy for testing. A program generator is coupled to the user interface and the knowledge base, and identifies from the knowledge base the screens in the branch. The program generator also generates a program to direct the service processor to call up the screens in the branch, and test the pathing between the screens by comparing the map provided by the memory to the screens actually called up by the service processor. To reduce the testing time, the program generator can select a fraction of the paths in the branch for testing. The program generator also writes a program to direct the service processor to exercise the end point screens to determine if the service processor is able to write data into the memory of the computer.

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Johnson City, NY, United States of America

Mark W Gould